HONG KONG — October 5, 2018 — Taking place in September for the first time, the earlier date of the 2018 Autumn Edition of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics was well received by both exhibitors and buyers. Strong business results and visitor flow, following on from recent editions, once again proved the fair’s leading position in the industry as an effective sourcing platform. In total, around 78,000 trade buyers1 from some 110 countries and regions visited the fair, (2017: 77,883, 102 countries and regions), sourcing from 4,480 exhibitors from 33 countries and regions (2017: 4,538, 32 countries and regions).
Wendy Wen, senior general manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd., commented at the conclusion of the fair: “The diversity and internationality of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics once again came to the fore, as exhibitors and buyers were widely satisfied in meeting their participation objectives. This was aided by the earlier date which more closely aligned the fair with the industry’s earlier autumn / winter sourcing season, and was appreciated by both exhibitors and buyers. There were many exhibitor success stories this edition throughout all the fair’s product categories, while those focusing either on meeting their existing customers or new buyers were able to find their targets. Those focused on China reported the continued strength of this market, while exhibitors targeting international markets were pleased with the buyer diversity and international brands in attendance. For buyers, the unrivalled range of quality products covering the entire apparel fabrics and accessories industry stood out the most for many of them.”
On the international exhibitors side this edition, strong growth was registered in the Functional Lab with the number of exhibitors increasing by 92%, while participation in Premium Wool Zone grew by 30%. In Accessories Vision, the number of overseas exhibitors increased by 25%. Meanwhile, nearly all of the fair’s Group Pavilions, from the likes of Hyosung, INVISTA, DuPont and OEKO-TEX, were larger this edition, while new pavilions from Birla, ECOCERT + GOTS, the Indian Chamber of Commerce and the Korea Outdoor & Sports Industry Association expanded the sourcing options for buyers. While there was much business interaction occurring in these areas, many buyers also found the time to gain inspiration for the next season in the fair’s many trend areas for A/W 19-20, including the Intertextile Directions Trend Forum, four Chinese trend forums, as well as trend areas in the Japan, Taiwan and Korea Pavilions. Adding more inspiration to the fringe programme this edition was the new video display ‘FutureCast: The State of the Consumer’. Developed by The Doneger Group, this presentation helped the apparel industry to gain a wider perspective of the consumer market by delving into the main sociocultural and innovation developments taking place today and their repercussions on business, design, creative and marketing opportunities.
Exhibitor feedback
SalonEurope: “This is our first time exhibiting here, and both we and our knitting partners have met a lot of potential customers,” said James Tang, marketing manager, Südwolle Group, China. “We target both brands and end-users, and the fair does attract quality Chinese fashion brands as well as garment knitters and weavers. Our products are quite expensive, so we target the high-end market, and many visitors are from this sector. Victoria’s Secret saw our product in the Trend Forum and came to our booth. We’ve also had buyers from Icebreaker and other luxury brands visit us. Chinese buyers are looking for innovation from overseas brands, so we do attract more attention being an international company.”
Japan Pavilion: “The China market pays more attention to the quality and functionality of products nowadays, which provides great potential for us,” said Norihisa Fujiwara, Section manager, Textile & Apparel Business Dept, Teijin Frontier Co Ltd., Japan. “Dickies used our SOLOTEX® fibre last season in China and had great success with it, so we see a lot of potential in this market. We have seen so many buyers in this fair, including textile producers and wholesalers, but also brands such as H&M, Lacrosse and Fila, and Chinese brands like Youngor, Li-Ning, Bosideng and Nanshan Group.”
Premium Wool Zone: “We are satisfied with the result this time,” said William Halstead, sales director, Taylor & Lodge, UK. “We always meet new contacts at this fair, and the number of buyers in the Premium Wool Zone this time has increased. It’s important we are in this zone because of the growing made-to-measure business in China. The zone is very established in this market, and many people know this is where to find high-quality wool. In Intertextile, although our main focus is on China, we’ve also seen customers from Singapore, India and the US.”
Functional Lab: “We exhibit here to promote our brand to Chinese consumers and brands, and Intertextile Shanghai gives us a lot of exposure in the market,” said Yong Hwan Shin, marketing manager, Taekwang Industry Co. Ltd., Korea. “In addition to many Chinese buyers, we’ve also met a lot of international visitors from the US, Europe, India and Bangladesh. The visitor flow has been excellent so far, and we’ve already distributed around 4,500 brochures to interested buyers.”
“Our target here is the Chinese market, in particular high-end brands, and the buyer quality at Intertextile is very good,” said Anchuan Tang, design promotion manager, Esquel Ent. Ltd., Hong Kong. “Septwolves and other well-known domestic brands have visited our booth, while we have also met some high-quality customers with stores on Alibaba, Tmall and Yanxuan. Online shopping is a big trend in China, and the number of e-commerce apparel brands is growing very fast. In addition to these new contacts, we can also meet many of our existing customers here.”
All About Sustainability: “This edition we moved to the All About Sustainability area, and because of this we have met more high-quality customers who are interested in our sustainable products,” said Leon Xu, sales manager, Hemp Fortex Industries (Rushan) Ltd., China. “Environmental protection is a big trend in China now, and Intertextile is a good platform for us to meet domestic buyers, while we can also meet some of our overseas customers here. This is a first-class business platform, where we can not only meet our existing customers, but also discover new ones.”
Verve for Design: “Yesterday (day one) was super busy, and today is fairly busy as well,” said Kyle Naughtrip, vice president, Operation and Sales, Nikki Martinkovic, USA. “Many people have checked out our prints and returned with their boss to purchase them. I can say we have had a good show. I think the Chinese market values the US trends and designs. They are willing to pay a higher price for prints from the studios that are here.”
Accessories Vision: “As one of the largest textile exhibitions in the world, we can not only meet many of our existing customers here, but also find new potential customers,” said Sean Pan, Sales Manager, 3M Intl. Trading (SHA) Co. Ltd., China. “The number of people in our booth at any one time is always high. Moreover, the quality of customers here is generally good, which, when it comes to doing business, is a unique feature of Intertextile when compared to similar exhibitions.”
Buyer impressions
“This exhibition represents the whole textile industry, we can find everything we need!” said Markus Göldi, general manager, Global Trend GmbH, Switzerland. “Nowhere else in the world can you find this, only here in China. One place, three days, you can find everything you need, including fabrics, trims and all the accessories, and you can find new suppliers to work with.”
“I found this fair amazingly well laid out, and it has everything we are looking for,” said Kuldeep Raswant, Golden Unicorn (HK) Ltd., Hong Kong. “We are able to do 90% of the sourcing we need to here. Intertextile also gives us insights into what are the new things coming out. It is a great experience to be here.”
“We are looking for high-quality raw material suppliers, and the quality of the exhibitors this edition is very good,” said Zhen Wang, Product Engineering manager, Textile Dyeing (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., China. “Our customers are brands such as Nike, adidas, New Balance, Columbia Sportswear, Decathlon, Li-Ning and Anta, so Intertextile Shanghai is an important platform for us to find quality products which can meet the needs of our clients.”
Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd.; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Textile Information Centre.
1 Including buyers from the concurrent CHIC and PH Value fairs who visited Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics
Posted October 9, 2018
Source: Messe Frankfurt